Hessing car dealership, Utrecht

Hessing car dealership, Utrecht

In the heart of the Netherlands, right alongside the much frequented A 2 motorway in Utrecht, car drivers are finding it hard to believe their eyes, their curiosity often causing tailbacks. An unusual structure meanders parallel to and just 15 metres away from the motorway for some 1.5 kilometres. What begins and ends as a noise protection embankment expands in its northern third into a spectacular transparent cocoon for exclusive cars. The canon of aerodynamic shapes of this innovative structure reflects not only the technological world of aircraft and aerospace but also the archaic aesthetics of fauna. The 8,500 triangular glass panes, which envelope the massive steel space framework to the motorway side, look like the shiny, evenly scaled belly of a fish. The showroom area, known as the »cockpit«, seems at night almost to pulsate with life in its effective presentation of artificial light.

Building-owner: Hessing Holding, Utrecht
Architect: ONL, Oosterhuis-Lénárd, Rotterdam
Construction management: A & O Bouwteampartners, Amsterdam
Light planning: Andriessen, Houten · BEGA
Electrical installation: Installatiebedrijf Andriessen, Houten
Photographer: Max Schulz, Mülheim a.d. Ruhr

Information brochure 2 - 2009